The Ending Of Manifest Season 2 Explained

So, season 2 of Manifest has wrapped up, and hoo boy, that was an ending, alright. The NBC supernatural drama tells the story of the passengers of Montego Air Flight 2020, which was hit with mysterious turbulence on its way from Jamaica to New York City. Once the plane arrived at its destination, the people onboard were in for the shock of a lifetime: The plane had been missing for well over five years before mysteriously reappearing, and everyone aboard was presumed dead. What's more, the time-displaced folks soon started having odd, prophetic experiences known as "Callings." 

Over the show's two seasons, the "survivors" of Flight 828 have struggled to cope with the fact that the world has changed and that many of their loved ones have moved on, while their visions and the often-unwanted attention their mysterious situation attracts have put them through some seriously strange twists and turns. The season 2 finale, "Icing Conditions," made it clear that the show fully intends to push the pedal even further to the metal when season 3 arrives. Join us as we dig into the various mysteries of the ending of Manifest season 2.      

All together now: "Resurrection!" That's the buzzword on viewers' lips courtesy of the unexpected way in which Zeke Landon (Matt Long) returned to the land of the living after finally succumbing to the frostbite with which he'd been struggling. Zeke is a tragic figure who experienced a one-year time skip while seeking shelter from a storm in a cave, and was connected to the Flight 828 survivors through Callings. What's more, he's also been carrying the burden of his death date, an "expiration date" that all time-skippers seem to have. As ScreenRant notes, the people who mysteriously move forward in time have only as long to live as they've been disappeared and, in Zeke's case, this means he was set to meet his fate during season 2.  

In the season finale, the bell finally tolled for Zeke when a Calling led him directly to a frozen lake, where he saved Cal Stone (Jack Messina) from drowning, only to perish, himself, in Michaela Stone's (Melissa Roxburgh) arms. He doesn't, however, stay dead, as he merely bathes in a mysterious glow and returns to life, right as rain and in full strength. In an interview with TV Guide, showrunner Jeff Rake says that this shocking twist will reflect on the other characters in the future, and they'll have many different theories about the situation. In particular, the show's resident death day obsessive, Ben Stone (Josh Dallas), seems to think that Zeke's survival means that the Flight 828 passengers can also dodge their death day by following their Callings, and the show's season 3 will explore his quest to spread this message to other passengers ... who, Rake hints, will not necessarily agree with Ben's theory. 

It's hard to imagine a more accurate title for the Manifest season 2 finale than "Icing Conditions." Young Flight 828 passenger Cal Stone started the episode as a hostage to drug dealers Jace (James McMenamin), Pete (Devin Harjes), and Kory (DazMann Still), who used Cal as a bargaining chip to force Michaela and Jared Vasquez (J.R. Ramirez) to return their drugs. Pete eventually took pity on the boy and set him free, and the whole crew ended up on a frozen lake. Drama ensued as lightning suddenly broke the ice, and the criminal trio went underwater, taking poor Cal with them. Fortunately, Zeke was able to pull off his Calling-induced Cal rescue, which led to his death and subsequent return to life. 

If hostage drama, lightning and Zeke's sudden talents of resurrection weren't enough for you, Rake notes in an interview with TV Line that we haven't necessarily seen the last of Jace, Pete, and Kory yet. Not only were their bodies never found, but the showrunner teases that their potential comeback might be a case of Zeke-style "death and return," that their mystery just might play a role in season 3, and that it's "probably the most significant mythological card turn in all of the series." It looks like the show's supernatural stakes are due to get even higher, somehow. 

Though Zeke ultimately survived his death date on his own, other characters didn't exactly take his looming fate sitting down. In "Icing Conditions," Saanvi Bahl (Parveen Kaur) tracked down the Major (Elizabeth Marvel) to see if she has a way to help Zeke dodge his fate. The antagonistic government operative had been stalking the Flight 828 crowd for quite a while, going as far as abducting several passengers for testing, and mining information under the guise of Saanvi's psychiatrist. 

Unfortunately for both Saanvi and the Major, their meeting proved disastrous. Saanvi's master plan involved poisoning the Major to gain advantage over her, but a scuffle between the two breaks the antidote vial, and the Major dies. Saanvi walks away, however, with a disturbing new piece of information: The Major was never trying to cure their condition. She was, instead, trying to figure out a way to turn it into a weapon. This brings a terrifying new prospect to the main characters' already-creepy lives, but the main fallout from this turn of events will be on Saanvi. After all, she has now taken a life, and the next season may deal with the fallout of her actions, as she enters a cat-and-mouse game with a tenacious investigator who's trying to find the Major's killer.  

Finally, there's the small matter of the tail fin. Montego Air Flight 828 may have kicked off the events of the show, but the plane, itself, didn't even survive the pilot episode, which culminated in its unexplained explosion while parked on an airstrip. "Icing Conditions" brings the plane back with a bang when Ben Stone has a Calling in which he witnesses Flight 828 explode in the air over the ocean – and, on cue, a group of fishermen lift a familiar-looking tail fin from the depths near Cuba. How is this possible, if the plane exploded in New York? Can this be the plane that disappeared? If it is, then what, exactly, is the plane that came back in its place? 

The discovery of the tail fin is going to have huge ramifications for the passengers, especially if it turns out to be identical with the airplane that we thought was the real deal. "How can a plane have landed and been exploded and then also be found at the bottom of the ocean," Rake asks in his TV Line interview. "Does this mean that the passengers are not the passengers? And if they're not the passengers, who are they?"

Though Manifest season 3 hasn't been confirmed yet, we certainly hope that it will happen soon. After all, we can't wait to get answers for the questions and mysteries the season 2 ending set up for us.